


Take Me to Church

by kxrapikaz



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: F/M, Fluff, For a Friend, Hunter Exam (Hunter X Hunter), Hurt/Comfort, POV Second Person, Reader Insert, comforting reader, killua has ptsd and it shows, set on zevil island
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:20:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25135294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kxrapikaz/pseuds/kxrapikaz
Summary: Something about being there, Killua’s smaller frame beside your own, is comforting, and you find yourself having to stifle a yawn. He glances up at you, brows knitted and face still flushed, and asks if you’re tired. You nod slowly, and he smiles. It’s weak, but it’s a smile, and he shifts a little so you can both settle down in the nook between the tree trunk and the branch.
Relationships: Killua Zoldyck/Reader
Comments: 3
Kudos: 77





	Take Me to Church

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ShinTsukimi_fucker](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinTsukimi_fucker/gifts).



> this was actually written for a friend (ri i love you) but she gave me full permission to post this here, too - this is my first reader-insert fic, so please be lenient if you spot any mistakes (i'm also not too used to writing in the second person, so PLEASE bear with me as i adjust to that)
> 
> (also - i'm aware that killua is HUGELY out of character in this - once again, this was initially written for a friend, and therefore the characterisation may be a little off)

It is cold on Zevil Island, despite your thick jacket and tights, and you cannot help but shiver. The sky had darkened far quicker than you expected, leaving you cold and without a place to sleep. Judging by the position of the moon (it hangs high in the sky, wide and staring and full), you guess that it is around midnight. Even the bushes, which usually teem with insects and wildlife, are eerily silent. Your tag, resting on your chest, reflects the naked moon with eagerness; you walk around feeling like a human flashlight. 

Tree branches dip gracefully in front of you, leaves rustling and quivering in the breeze; you jump a little. It’s safe to say that you are on-edge, eyes darting from side to side as the forest continues to live and breathe around you. Fatigue drags at your body, pulling at your hands and feet and eyelids until you can hardly bring yourself to move -- you can’t remember the last time you’d slept comfortably or consistently (in all honesty, it was probably before the Hunter Exam even started. You didn’t exactly enjoy sleeping around total strangers, and not even Killua, Gon, Kurapika or Leorio’s presences were enough to comfort you enough), and it slowly begins to take its toll on you. 

You begrudgingly decide to find a tree to rest in, the idea of sleep growing more and more tempting; whilst you’re out in the open and vulnerable to attacks, your reflexes are fairly decent and you can hopefully find some higher branches to nestle up against. The trees nearby seem weak and flimsy, only young sycamores that would absolutely not be able to hold a human’s sleeping body. Instead, you make the intelligent decision to continue searching. After a little while, you come across a grove of towering oak trees that seem to stretch impossibly high -- it isn’t ideal (though nothing about the Hunter Exam so far has been ideal), but it’ll definitely do. Your sights settle upon the smallest of the group, and the exhaustion seems to immediately take over as you drag yourself toward the trunk. 

Around halfway up, you sense that something is off; the branches above you seem to be trembling, and your instincts tell you that it certainly isn’t due to the wind. Still, you continue to climb, your shoes digging into cracks and crevices in the bark. By the time you reach the first large branch, the shaking has grown far more fervent, and anxiety is building in the pit of your stomach. It could be anything -- an animal, another examinee, Hisoka -- and you gulp. You had braced yourself for the worst possible outcome, so it takes you wildly off guard when you catch sight of a white head of hair and impossibly pale skin.

You choke out his name, your voice strangled and embarrassingly high-pitched. He jerks his head up, eyes wide and scared and utterly panicked. His cheeks flush, crimson against white, and you notice the tear-tracks that are etched into his skin. Killua’s body is folded in on itself, his torso curled up in a position that you can only imagine to be uncomfortable and his legs pressed against his chest. You call out again, quieter this time, and you stretch out a hand. His entire body jolts away, and in only the light of the moon, he seems impossibly tiny. The way his body trembles and shrinks in on itself reminds you of a wounded animal, and you cannot help but pity him. 

Slowly you reach out once more, each movement cautious and calculated until your hand finds its place on his shoulder. The moment you make contact, he breaks; his body sinks further against the trunk of the tree, fresh tears streaming down his cheeks, and you decide that you should definitely hoist the rest of your body up onto the branch. You do so, joining Killua and sliding your hand so your entire arm is resting around his shoulders. He slumps into you almost immediately, his entire upper body resting against yours as he cries. It’s the first time you’ve seen Killua so emotional -- usually he’s sarcastic and playful and a little unsettling, but this is a whole other ballpark. It’s jarring to see him in so much distress, his usually solid persona cracked and broken, and you feel your catch in your throat.

The only thing you can do is hold him, one arm pulling him tightly toward you and the other settled in his hair, combing through it with your fingers as you mumble words of reassurance. It seems to calm him down, enough that he’s able to speak coherently; it’s definitely an improvement from the garbled, muffled nonsense that spilled from his lips previously. You quietly ask if he’s okay -- it’s a stupid question, but you would rather be safe than seem ignorant. He shakes his head, still pressed up against your side, and you sigh. 

Something about being there, Killua’s smaller frame beside your own, is comforting, and you find yourself having to stifle a yawn. He glances up at you, brows knitted and face still flushed, and asks if you’re tired. You nod slowly, and he smiles. It’s weak, but it’s a smile, and he shifts a little so you can both settle down in the nook between the tree trunk and the branch. His body is tense and his spine is rigid, and you find yourself gently coaxing him into relaxing. After a few more mumbled kind words, he eventually sinks into your outstretched arms. The position is uncomfortable, and there’s a huge risk of the pair of you falling to the ground as you sleep, but you’re both so exhausted that the safety factor of it all is a huge afterthought -- instead, you pull him in closer, resting your chin on his head as he rests his own on your shoulder, and find yourself slowly drifting off to sleep.


End file.
